Russian
Overview
Russian is not only the official language of Russia, but it’s also spoken in the Eastern European countries of Belarus, Estonia, Ukraine, and others with large ethnic Russian populations. As a Slavic language, it shares similarities with languages throughout the Eastern European region such as Polish and Croatian. There are an estimated 279 million Russian speakers (native and non-native), making it the fifth most-spoken language in the world.
Russia’s vast resources and highly educated population make it a country with great economic potential. It is one of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) nations, a group of four countries projected to grow in economic influence over the coming decades. Russian is a U.S. government-designated “critical language,” and there are generous scholarships and unique educational opportunities available for students of Russian.
Careers
Fluency in Russian is a prerequisite to doing business in Russia and parts of the former Soviet Union, so speaking the language opens business opportunities in this large and important geographic area. English-Russian bilingualism is also useful in landing some jobs in the U.S. government, such as with the CIA and the State Department, and proficiency can lead to jobs as a translator, interpreter, or foreign-correspondent journalist.